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Abstract With the continuing drive to reduce power plant emissions including green
house gases, coal fired power plants have been moving to higher ultra-supercritical (USC) steam conditions in addition to advances in technology. GE Energy has designed the next generation USC steam turbine generator with a rating of 1000 MW to address the need for higher efficiency coal fired power plants. With inlet steam conditions of 260 bar and 610C / 621C (3770 psi and 1150F / 1180F), the primary objective for the advanced technology USC 1000 MW steam turbine is high efficiency. To achieve this higher cycle efficiency, the design utilizes advanced steam turbine technology and system design and a longer last stage bucket design in addition to ultra supercritical steam conditions. Performance enhancing technology is being applied to turbine buckets, nozzles and seals. In addition to improvements to steam path components, performance gains are achieved by optimizing stationary components such as valves, inlets, and exhausts using advanced CFD tools. This USC project illustrates the latest design and technology capabilities of GE Energy and sets the standard for future 1000 MW USC applications.
1. INTRODUCTION
GE Energy was an early entrant into USC steam turbine technology with the first unit shipped in 1956 with inlet steam conditions of 310 bar / 621C (4500 psi / 1150F). Since then, GE has shipped 77GW of steam turbines (125 units) with supercritical steam conditions. GE designed the worlds most powerful USC steam turbine rated 1050 MW operating at 250 bar / 600C / 610C (3626 psi / 1112F / 1130F). This 1000 MW USC steam turbine design is a natural evolution of GEs USC technology. GE continues to develop and refine USC steam turbine technology.
With the emerging interest in reducing emissions, including green house gases from coal 1
fired power generation, GE Energy is striving to increase USC PC generation output and efficiency in its development of this 1000MW USC PC platform. Every 1% improvement in plant efficiency results in approximately 2.5% reduction in green house gas emissions. To satisfy this objective, GE Energy is looking to achieve the following advances in PC generation technologies: MW rating: 1000MW MGR HP throttle pressure: 260 bar (3770 psi) HP throttle temperature: 610C (1130F) Reheat steam temperature: 621C (1150F) Condenser pressure: 1.5 Hg (NR Back Pressure: 2.5 Hg) 4 flow, 45 inch Last Stage Blade Cycle: Single Reheat Regenerative
rate gain is usually larger, approaching 0.6-0.7%. Changing the final feedwater temperature, adding a HARP, and setting the reheater pressure obtain the best relative heat rate impact. The use of advanced reheat steam conditions strongly affects the inlet temperature to the low-pressure (LP) turbine section. An increase in hot reheat temperature translates into an almost equal increase in crossover temperature for a given crossover pressure. However, the maximum allowable LP inlet temperature is limited by material considerations associated with the rotor, crossover and hood stationary components. In addition, the selection of hot reheat temperature (and corresponding effect on LP inlet temperature) impacts the amount of moisture at the L-0 bucket which factors into stress corrosion cracking considerations. Once the reheat steam conditions are established (pressure and temperature) then the LP steam conditions can be determined. If the resulting crossover temperature is too high, the energy ratio between the IP and the LP can be changed to lower this temperature. Increasing the energy on the IP section will lower the crossover temperature, but it will also impact the cycle efficiency, increase the number of IP stages, or the loading of the IP stages, increase the height of the final IP bucket, increase the size of the crossover, or increase the pressure drop through the crossover.
The turbine cost increases and plant cost increases would then be compared to the expected kilowatt outputs to optimize the plant Cost of Electricity. In the case of the 3.5 HgA, the 4flow 40 would be higher cost than the 4-flow 33.5, and the footprint of the 40 LP section would be larger also. In the case of the 1.5 HgA chart, the 6-flow LP section would require the additional LP turbine section, and additional condenser, as well as a larger footprint for the 45 LP section. These considerations resulted the selection of a 4-flow 45 LP section design. The overall turbine configuration is shown in Figure 1.
Increased number of stages Decreased inner ring diameter Optimized stage reaction levels Optimized Stage energy levels Advanced sealing Integral cover bucket (ICB) Full Arc, hook diaphragm 1st stage Advanced cooling scheme
iii) Improved HP/IP/LP shell design iv) Advanced LP design with 45 inch last stage blade
3. HIGH/INTERMEDIATE PRESSURE TURBINE DESIGN 3.1 High Pressure (HP) Section Design 3.1.1 Section Design
Figure 2 shows the HP cross-section. The HP section is designed in a single flow configuration. This modern design eliminated the partial admission, control stage, and nozzle box. An overload admission was added for frequency control and capacity margin. Main steam enters the section through two pipes (top and bottom.) A heater above reheat point extraction is taken from the lower half. The HP exhaust uses two cold-reheat (CRH) pipes from the lower half arranged in the pant leg configuration. Elimination of the nozzle box required that two inner shells be used. All shells are split and bolted at their horizontal joints for ease of maintenance. In this arrangement, the inlet #1 inner shell is subject to adjacent stage steam conditions on its inner surfaces and a downstream stages steam pressure on its outer surface. The corresponding outer shell inner surface is subjected to steam conditions at the same downstream steam pressure, albeit with an enthalpy determined by the flow balance of steam between the packing leakage and the split location. The exhaust #2 inner shell is arranged in a manner similar to that for the full inner shell described above. The inner shell split location is judiciously chosen to optimize the horizontal joint and bolting design of the outer, #1 inner, and #2 inner shells. The outer and # 1 inner shell are cast 10Cr material. The #2 inner shell is cast CrMoV material. The mono-block rotor material is 12Cr. The Advancing steam conditions necessitated the addition of inlet cooling for the rotating parts to allow the rotor design to stay 12Cr materials. Full admission design alleviated the mechanical challenges associated with partial admission design and the control stage. Thrust is balanced using the pressure difference across the rotor at the generator end of the HP section. The rotor is supported by bearings in the front and middle standards. Both standards slide in a manner 5
The biggest advance in steam turbines in recent years has been Aerodynamics. GE has continued to develop advanced aerodynamic vane shapes based on 100 years of experience coupled with 3D CFD (computational fluid dynamics) and GEs HP test facility. The addition of CFD in the last 10-15 years has resulted in great strides in steam turbine aerodynamics. Figure 5 shows the evolution of aerodynamic shapes over the years.
Advanced Advanced- Vortex -Vortex pound Lean Lean Com pound Nozzle Bow ed Nozzle Partitions Partitions
Controlled -Vortex ControlledVortex Non Non -Uniform Flow UniformRadial Radial Flow Straight Straight Trailing Edge Trailing Edge O ptim ized Reaction
2000s
New Dense Design Pack
Figure 5 - Evolution of Steam Turbine Aerodynamics GEs designs using Dense PackTM components further improve efficiency by addressing the major sources or aerodynamic loss in impulse steam turbines. This is achieved via: Higher bucket reaction -> Decreased nozzle velocity/turning ->Decreased nozzle profile and secondary losses Reduced nozzle and bucket counts -> Decreased friction loss Decreased root diameter -> Increase bucket active length -> Improved bucket efficiency In addition, the higher reaction and decreased root diameter result in additional stages (in order to keep optimum wheel velocity ratio). These additional stages improved section efficiency.
efficiency than the other HP stages. Although there have been many improvements to control stage design in recent years as part of GEs products using Dense PackTM components, the efficiency still lags other group stages. Therefore, for this 1000 MW USC standard GE chose to implement a full arc 1st stage design, which is much higher reaction and lower aspect ratio to a traditional control stage. This enables the first stage design to rival the efficiency of other stages. To allow this however, changes need to be made to allow the turbine to quickly and efficiently respond to load swings. Therefore, GE will utilize an overload valve that will bypass the 1st stage and allow additional flow/load response. GE has utilized such a design previously, and has a patent in this area.
4. LOW PRESSURE TURBINE DESIGN TECHNOLOGY 4.1 Wheel and Diaphragm Configuration Structure
Figure 6 - Wheel and Diaphragm Configuration As shown in Figure 6, the LP design for the 1000 MW consists of 5 stages with 4 extractions for the feed water cycle. The last 3 stages (L-0, L-1, and L-2) are designed as a system and the L-0 utilizes the new GE 45 Titanium LSB design. This provides the maximum annulus area for a 4-flow 9
configuration. Titanium material is required due to the large load. In addition, advanced curved axial entry dovetails have been developed to minimize stresses. High strength LP rotor material, similar to that used on GEs 40 steel bucket is also used to control stress. The first 2 LP stages (L-3 and L-4) utilize high reaction stage design for optimal efficiency. In addition, advance brush seals are utilized to reduce leakage losses.
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Figure 7 - LP Exhaust Hood Model The LP exhaust hood directs the flow from the last stage bucket exit annulus to the condenser. The high volumetric flows associated with the low exhaust pressure result in high exit Mach numbers making the recovery of this exit kinetic energy or Leaving Loss an important feature of the LP turbine. To maximize the recovery of the exit kinetic energy, the exhaust hood is designed using an unstructured CFD mesh. Inlet boundary conditions are set to model the effects of the LSB exit flow profile. Results of this model, shown in Figure 8, are used to refine the geometric definition of the exhaust hood shape such that the flow losses are reduced and the leaving loss is recovered to the maximum extent possible. In the exhaust, the placement and shapes of the butterfly plates, Herzog plates, and steam guides were designed for the best performance. These changes reduced the high velocity regions, minimized separations, and reduced flow turning resulting in reduced inlet and exhaust pressure losses, contributing to the overall improved performance of the LP turbine.
The LP inner casing inlet duct transitions flow from the crossover pipe to the annular inlets of the steam path. 3D CFD analysis of the inlet region is employed to minimize the losses during this transition. Results from this analysis provided the inlet boundary condition for the turbine analysis, including both radial and circumferential variation.
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The first, most basic advanced seal used is a standard hi-lo or slant tooth packing with elliptical packing. Elliptical packing has been shown through experience to be the best solution to minimize leakage area while preventing most rubs. Clearances tend to be larger at the vertical position as opposed to the horizontal position due to rotor and stationary part movements. Recent CFD analyses as well as component testing has shown that rubbed packing shapes have a much higher leakage than a sharp toothed packing (see Figure 10).
Figure 10 - Rubbed packing CFD Elliptical clearances are used in conjunction with other advanced seals in most areas.
also limited based on rotor dynamics criteria. Since the seals are designed to rub, there is heat generation in the rotor locally to the rub. This rub causes a thermal bow that can cause rotor instability. Therefore, brush seals are limited in number, based on the rotor dynamics characteristics of a given rotor.
6. CONCLUSIONS
GE Energys next generation 1000 MW fossil PC steam turbine generator platform provides increased efficiency and reduction in emissions, which is of paramount importance to the environment. USC steam conditions enable high efficiency designs that reduce the amount of fuel required for generation and reduce green house gas emissions.
REFERENCES
1. J. Michael Hill, Sanjay Goel, Development of the Dense Pack Steam turbine: A New Design Methodology for Increased Efficiency, Proceedings of 2000 International Joint Power Generation Conference, 2000 2. Eichiro Watanabe, Yoshinori Tanaka, Development of New High Efficiency Steam Turbine, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Technical Review Vol. 40 No.4., Aug. 2003 3. Tom Logan, Un-Hak Nah, James Donohue, GE and Doosan bring Ultra Super Critical Steam Turbine Technology to Korea, Proceedings of 2003 Power Gen Asia, 2003. 4. Daniel Cornell, Klaus Retzlaff, Sean Talley, DX2 (Dense Pack) Steam Turbines, GER-4202 GE Power Systems. 5. Mujezinovic, A., Hofer, D., Barb, K., Kaneko, J, Tanuma, T. and Okuno, K, Introduction of 40/48 Inch Steel Steam Turbine Low Pressure Section Stages, Proceeding of the Power-GEN Asia, (2002), CD-ROM.
6. Hofer, D., Slepski, J., Tanuma, T. Shibagaki, T., Shibukawa, N., and Tashima, T., Aerodynamic
Design and Development of Steel 48/40 inch Steam Turbine LP End Bucket Series, Proceedings of the International Conference on Power Engineering-03 (ICOPE-03) November 9-13, 2003, Kobe, Japan 14